Strangers Are Stranger These Days
by Adaxial
Summary: An idle wastelander wanders the Mohave, fighting to survive like everybody else, and strives to reach New Vegas to find her place, while making a companion out of an aloof sniper along the way.


It was hot days like these that I wasn't sure if I'd find myself dehydrated and dying in an ant hole by the end of the day and you have to wonder how it wasn't the heat killing people out here instead of the abominations. I have plenty of bullets to save my ass but often tend to find my supply of water to be rather low on a daily basis, and while there's plenty of irradiated lakes to supply this water, it's just not worth the rads. Some days, however, it does come down to whether I want to just drink the dirty water or keep pushing and hope I'm close to a town. It's a gamble, and it's a gamble I'm willing to take. Often I have to decide if I can make it, and with the help of Barrel Cactus Fruit I usually manage.

One of the most convenient sources of quick hydration is the ever growing Cactus Fruit and I can say that it has gotten me through weather just as bad as this before. Now, I'm not saying you should solely rely on this means - only as a last resort. Unfortunately for me I have neither bottled water nor Barrel Cactus fruit so today is not going to be easy. What I do have is a plan mapped out in my head.

Get to Novac. Find water.

Two steps, sounds easy enough, yet three hours in and I'm starting to worry. My throat could be mistaken for tanned leather, lips are beyond chapped and if they keep peeling I'm afraid there'll be nothing left of them. Save for the dull throbbing of a headache, if any more symptoms show then I'm done for.

So, here I am, trudging through the dirt, pistol hanging from fingertips. I'm positive I look like a walking dirt ball and smell like a rotting Brahmin but what's new. I pull up my arm and check my pip boy. As my eyes fall upon the marker I give a pathetic whimper.

_So close._

I have, I can estimate, maybe one mile to go. My legs are set to keep moving steadily, robotically, programmed only to walk and never to stop. So I do just that, I keep walking, through the heat beating down on my neck and the sweat dripping into my eyes. Ahead of me the dirt's cooking and I can see the heat radiating off of it, but it could be a lake.

Eventually the small mounds of dirt have turned into waves and are promising better tidings ahead and promises of water as cold as their seas. It's all that keeps me going and I have to stop myself from lying in the waves because they are only mirages, and because the sea is filled with radscorpians, I think, and they keep stinging my feet. When I aim my gun at them they dissolve into goo and before I know it, just as I'm about start scooping the sea into my mouth, my feet hit hard ground and I've come across a crumbled road leading to wrecked houses from pre-war days.

I'd cry tears of joy if I could but I'm all dried out. My pip-boy indicates that I am indeed in Novac and I'm surprised at what I've come across. I hadn't been expecting this town to be as big as it was, though I guess I really didn't know what to expect, and as much as I'd love to stand here all day admiring the shithole, I needed water. I trek up the broken road, passing a merchant. It's a slow reaction but I suddenly realize that,

_It's a merchant!_

And I turn around as quickly as my worn self will let me and try to call out, but my voice betrays me. It just cracks and crumbles like the dirt beneath my boots. This time I clear my throat with a (rather painful) cough and this gets the merchant to glance back at me and I take my chance to wave my arms limply over my head and traipse over to him.

"Oh, hi there, you nee-"

"Wa..er."

"Wa…wal…Oh! Water, you need water! I can see that." He chuckles, yellow dirt encrusted fingernails scratch at his untrimmed beard.

I glare at him, motion to his bag,

_Do you have any?_

"Well, I might have just what you need."

I watch eagerly, praying, and I swear this is a holy moment as he slowly, agonizingly, pulls out a bottle of water, the contents taunting me with its sloshing dance.

I want to say, _yes, yes, yes! _But opt for snatching it out of his hands. Unscrewing the lid, I don't think twice and put it to my lips. The waters hot but wet, and it's sufficient enough. I remember to slow down, else I get sick, and do my best to take smaller sips.

I'm two-thirds through the bottle when I notice the man waiting patiently, just watching me with interest. I slowly lower the bottle from my lips and I almost snap at him to leave me alone when I realize I still haven't paid him.

I reach into my duffel bag and pull out a handful of caps lying around in the bottom, thrusting it into his hands.

I finish off the water as he carefully transfers the caps into a small bag. Tipping his hat, he wills the Brahmin forward but I stop him.

"Do you have any more?"

He thinks for a moment then says, "Nope, sorry, you dang finished that sucker off fast though. You want more I suggest you head to that big dinosaur over there. There's a little shop inside if you head up the stairs."

He's lying, I'm sure of it. I know he has more but he's not going to give them up. He's a merchant, what merchant carries one bottle of water?

Instead of causing a scene I nod and head towards the green dinosaur head, peeking up above the houses not too far off, standing tall as if the war never touched it and if the merchant hadn't said anything I might have mistaken it for another mirage.


End file.
